As John came walking into the house he kicked off his mud covered boots and socks. Brushing off flakes of hard lava ash from the ancient lava flows near his house, his mother scolding him once again for tracking mud and hard lava into the house.

    "But mom, it's no much fun scrambling over the rocks." John pleaded.

    "I wish I can find a way to stop you from playing there." Mrs. Mathew said. "It's just too dangerous."

     "Maybe for someone over 30." John muttered under his breath.

     "What was that?" Mrs. Mathew said.

    "Er... Nothing." John said as he headed upstairs to take a bath.

      As they stars came out that night, Mrs. Mathew stepped out on the front porch. She saw weird lights in the horizon sky. Through the red, blue, green, yellow and silver lights, she saw the first star of the evening. "I wish I had a real excuse to keep John off those lava flows." She wished before going to bed.

      That night, the whole town seem to shake in the most massive earthquake that was ever felt. So great that one expected the news to report California's departure from rest of country. The shaking knocked John out of bed, as he tried to stand up, he felt over and hit his head on a bed post that he knew wasn't there a second before.

      A ceiling light caught his attention next as he found himself standing in a baseball uniform in a department store. "Huh?" John said in a hollow voice. 

      "Mother!" John screamed at a woman and grabbing her arm. As the woman walked forward, her arm came off in his hand. "Ahhh!"

     "Give me that." The woman in a semi-transparent gown said. She replaced her arm just before it changed from plastic to flesh. "Time to make our way into the real world."

     "This can't be happening." John though as he looked at his plastic body. Feeling into his pants he found he was as sexless as any male mannequin. "What's going on?"

     "This just in." A woman in a purple business suit said on the news. "Reports after last night earthquake are that of humans turning into mannequins and mannequins coming to life. Of course..." He voice tried off as she could no longer loosen her grip on the news report she held. Her finger nails took on the same skin tone as the rest of her hand. She gazed vacantly into the camera lens with eyes that had turned into glass.

     "Thanks Susan, but I'll take it from here." A woman dressed like a figure skater said as she caused the former newswoman to tip over with one finger.  "You'll be shipped to a store shortly, honey. That goes for anyone else standing in hearing distance of this broadcast."

     "John, thank goodness I found you at least." Mrs. Mathew said with relief. Her movement slowed down more and more with each step. As she tripped, she stumbled out of her heels and John could see her mother's toes were fused together.

      "I'm just glad to know you're alright." John said to her mother who was now standing motionless; nothing more than a plastic statue of her former self. "No! This isn't right. She can't be happening here... now."

     Going home, he went  upstairs and found that a more normal set of clothes to wear. With a white T-shirt and shorts he wondered if hitting his head had anything to do with the fact he wasn't motionless like the other humans. Before changing he ran a bath.

     After running soap over his soft new body and feeling the smooth legs with a almost natural ability, he soon was dressed. Hearing Frank comfort his wife in the bedroom, John turned on the news to get the latest on The Great Shift and laid on the couch. John couldn't help staring at the fused toes of his feet.. The feeling of his nice new soft body and the clothes made him feel very empowered.

     That was when John started to hear shouts coming from the bedroom upstairs. The mannequins calling themselves Frank and Martha went from making love in the bedroom to having a fight.

     "Now Frank," Martha said with a smile. "I know to well that you don't wish to go to the mall anymore than me. One of us have to go shopping for new clothes now that we can choose. Now that we don't wait for the window dresser to change us. Today that will be you."

     "Yes dear." Frank said reluctantly.

      "I can't wait to see you dress up for the dinner since Martha had already planned on going out before this happened.  A night of dancing in heels will really give me an insight of a real woman's life. For now you need to get yourself comfortable with putting on your own clothes. That why before we go out tonight you're to go mall walking from store to store for a complete new outfit. I want us to look our best on the first night on the town."

         Soon Frank was driving toward the mall in a pink Thunderbird LX and saw John on the lava flows. "Haven't fully changed yet huh" Frank said. "How about joining me at the mall. I know that you'll need some outfits too." 

     "Sure." John said as Frank helped him off the lava flows and into the car. He remembered his neighbor Linda loved to shop and wish he could see her again. Then again he thought that maybe he would. Wearing an expressionless blank face forever, standing in some window display.

     "Wish my dad could contact me." John  thought with a sigh. "He was transferred to a store in Tokyo Japan. John was lucky that he got to see him one last time before he was packed up and shipped off across the sea.

     "How to dress this body?" Frank said as they parked at the mall. Walking in they saw a Salvation Army man dressed as Santa Claus. Inside, Christmas music played as they passed a photo with Santa display. John heard Santa complaining about his beard being real instead of the fake one that he wore every year for the holidays.

        As Frank and John entered a shoe store, John tried to force his way over to the sneakers. There was quite a mass of former mannequins to push his way past. He was being treated like a reject as they saw him as a mannequin who didn't go all the way human instead of the other way round.

     As the cell phone in Frank's pocket rang, he answered it. Martha on the other end reminded Frank of the salon appointment made back when the real Martha was flesh. She wouldn't be home when John or Frank had got home.

    Martha felt a different type of powerful feeling than ever before as she had a manicure, pedicure and leg waxing. Hair and eye brows were done. They felt sore where the hair were ripped away from the body, but they both found they loved the personal attention they got in the salon chairs.  As Martha stared at her image in the mirror, she took some sexy poses that would make any man's manhood go erect.

     "How do you like your new look?" The salon woman said. Martha did love it all and hair dresser nodded.  She leaned over and whispered in Martha ear. "You must of been as lucky as me, hon. Going into a lifestyle you love."

 Martha didn't know what to say. She didn't realize how taken she was to being female already. As she took them home, She imagined Linda on the lava flows. It was like walking in a dream state with someone else in control of what either of them did.  For some reason neither seemed to mind too much.

      "But, I don't need a babysitter." John protested that night.

      "John, that may be true for a mannequin but you're human now." Martha said as she stared at her new son thanks to the shift.

      John just sighed and gave in as the sixteen year old girl who was a forty year old mannequin before The Great Shift, smiled with her books pressed under her breasts. She smiled and understood what it felt like to be younger than before though not the opposite sex. She was going to go easier on John as she was sure the adjustment been hard for him.

      As John played videos games and worked on homework, he was glad he had till the end of Christmas vacation to get use to being like it, Wasn't sure if they'd be anything left of John when he did return to school.

    Martha wasn't having it so easy. At dinner, She kicked off her heels under the table and rubbed her nylon covered feet together. Even wiggling her toes was sore for her as he never danced in heels before. Martha wanted Frank to dance to ever song that played when they weren't actually eating.  "You look lovely dear."

     "Knock it off," Frank muttered. "I'm embarrassed enough here as it is."

      "Okay, Okay." Martha chuckled. "After dessert we'll be going home and you can be my little man.  I   can cook, clean and play bridge with the  girlfriends like I used to. You'll only have to go out when you're at the supermarket if you wish."

     "Yes, Martha." Frank said, she feeling the need to go to the bathroom. He stepped into the heels and hobbled into the women's room where she got  her first experience at pulling a pair of panties and pantyhose down to her ankles and hiking up her dress to go sitting down. He never missed going standing up in her life.

     "If John ever needs a babysitter let me know." Kathy said with a smile and went to her car. The new families would all have a lot to learn before Christmas. Things they'd have the rest of their lives to get used to.

THE END